I notice not only is it totally uncomfortable (wrong position, too low - head tube not long enough, and made of aluminum which seems unbearably harsh in comparison to the steel Pompino) but I can distinctly feel a loss of power somewhere. It is really noticeable. It makes me want to pedal a much larger gear than I would have used in the past! It seems you get less for your effort with geared bikes - I can feel my legs spinning but don't seem to be getting anywhere and it actually feels better to be in a larger gear. I've no 'pooter' on the geared bike at the moment so I don't know if I am going much quicker than I used to or not on it. I do know though that I am considerably faster on the fixed so I wonder if this wanting to pedal a higher gear that previously on the geared bike is down to developing strength through riding fixed up hill into a head wind on my way home every night, or simply the fact that power is being lost somewhere on a geared bike and so it just feels wrong.

I think I do rely somewhat on momentum to get up the hills when on fixed - it seems that once you've started turning the pedals it is easier to keep them turning, even if the gear is a bit large - it just means you go up the hills faster on fixed even though it hurts your legs!

Don't be dissapointed...it's a good thing.... your legs will be scary strong now.....

My only geared 'roadie' is a 7 speed Jamis Cyclocrosser but I have similar sentiments after riding fixed for a bit.

I had trouble finding a gear that felt right and the whole set up felt most odd - all wrong,really.
I only ride the gearie for big days out these days (century rides etc) otherwise it sits folorn in the bedroom,gathering dust.I'm hoping one day I'll get strong enough to do long ones on the fixer but we'll build up to that !

My single gear seems to sing (zing?) along with a joy de vivre that the gearie just doesn't have... ? Anyway,I like the silent 'just pedal' thing as well.
Your comments about Alu & steel are interesting - I gave my Alu frame road bike away (it was a cheapie Saracen Ventoux - my first road bike - I'm an mtb-er really).
as it beat the **** out of me compared to the steelies.

I quite fancy trying a fixed, been thinking about it for a while. In fact I had a dream that I was riding a rather aged sit up and beg style fixed bike, it felt good, and it had a sort of rusty lever on the riser bars that I could flick, which swapped the drive over from fixed to single speed freewheel.. I suppose for when my legs wanted a rest. Good eh?

i had to go on gears last week for the club hill climb. (couldn't get my gearing right on fixed in time) and found it very frustrating compared to my fixed.
the position is the same and they're both steel frames but gears felt wrong.
the club president likened riding gears to pedaling a soggy sponge after a time on fixed and now i know what he meant

This is such a bollocks thread. I cannot believe how something can induce apparently normally sensible people's inclination to spout such complete guff.

Blonde said:

I notice ... [it is] made of aluminum which seems unbearably harsh in comparison to the steel Pompino)

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How can aluminium "seem harsh"? The frame of your bike is not a moving part. The only difference it makes to the ride between aluminium and steel is that aluminium's less dense, so for the same volume of tubing aluminium is lighter.
Are you sure you don't just mean you're aware of being acutely less fashionable?

Blonde said:

but I can distinctly feel a loss of power somewhere. It is really noticeable. It makes me want to pedal a much larger gear than I would have used in the past! It seems you get less for your effort with geared bikes - I can feel my legs spinning but don't seem to be getting anywhere and it actually feels better to be in a larger gear.

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I think it's more likely to be that you're simply putting less effort in so you think you're going slower, whereas really it's just that you've got a higher cadence so after being used to a fixed, you think you 'should' be going faster. I don't recall a thread when you switched to a fixed describing how fast you seemed to be whizzing along for such little effort? Was there one - did I just miss it?

Blonde said:

I've no 'pooter' on the geared bike at the moment so I don't know if I am going much quicker than I used to or not on it. I do know though that I am considerably faster on the fixed

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How do you know, if you haven't got a computer on the geared bike?

zimzum42 said:

No momentum build up with gears......

And the drive train on a geared bike is less efficent......

Stay fixed!

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Yes, by about 0.001%.

peejay78 said:

absolutely - i'm much more aware of pacing and rhythm when riding fixed up hills. i try and maintain a cadence and smooth pedal motion. it's a lot of effort, but it's good effort.

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Gobbledegook. "Pacing" and "rhythm" are complete mumbo jumbo terms whose place is in fashionable london tea-room/cafe chat, not in technical discussion.

Theres a very good reason that no-one gas ever made a spring out of aluminum. If subject to flex aluminum will suffer from fatigue and fail. The tubes of Alu frames are of a greater diameter than those of steel in order to minimise the possibility of fatigue through flexing (doubling the diameter of a tube quadruples its stiffness). Its widely known that steel and Ti frames are more flexible than Alu or resin composite frames, anyone who has ridden a Reynolds 531st frame loaded with panniers into a fast corner will tell you how sketchy a whippy steel frame can be.

My Rocky Mountain Vertex Scandium suffers from an enormous amount of frame flex, proper visible demonstratable frame flex, but its a characteristic Im prepared to live with because I want a light bike.

There is a very real sense when returning to a geared bike that its less efficient. I spent two years riding fixed exclusively, when I then rode on a freewheel my legs didnt want to go over top dead centre, the bike didnt seem to carry the same momentum and it was impossible to find a comfortable gear ratio.